A brewing storm in the Pacific is expected to enter the Philippine Area of Responsibility tomorrow morning while tropical depression Urduja exited the country Tuesday, said the state weather bureau.
According to PAGASA Bohol forecaster Lloyd Sepe, the weather disturbance is still a low pressure area (LPA) but is likely to intensify into a cyclone as it moves closer to land days leading to Christmas.
“It is possible that it will become a storm inside 24 hours after it enters the PAR,” said Sepe in Cebuano on Tuesday.
In a Tuesday bulletin, PAGASA said that the LPA was spotted 1,290 km east of Mindanao.
If it develops into a storm, the weather disturbance will be named Vinta as it traverses the PAR.
According to Sepe, the LPA is initially projected to make landfall in the Davao Region on Friday but its course remains uncertain.
“There are 2 scenarios. It may pass going to Cagayan, Siquijor, Dumaguete and in the other scenario, traversing northern Mindanao to Zamboanga del Norte,” said Sepe.
The forecast track of the weather disturbance would be clearer once it enters the PAR, he added.
Meanwhile, tropical depression Urduja inundated large swaths of Visayas over the weekend.
As of Tuesday, the storm reportedly left 41 people dead and 45 missing.
Initial assessments indicated that the storm resulted in over P543 million in damage to infrastructure, said the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council. (A. Dodyora)